Mar 23, 2013

St. Cloud Times: the two faces of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann

Unlike our reluctant spring, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has roared back on to the national spotlight as speeches to CPAC and her congressional colleagues were fact checked; the findings were not pretty.

Political junkies, partisans and the media are abuzz as to whether a
closer-than-expected 2012 re-election victory changed the divisive tone
and lightning-rod tactics of U.S. Sixth District Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Two
events — a national speech Saturday and a St. Paul lobbying appearance
Monday — not only reflect how there is no clear answer to that question,
but highlight why district voters will remain frustrated if all they
want is a hardworking, level-headed House member.

The Saturday speech was vintage Bachmann — heavy on political red
meat and light on accuracy. Monday’s lobbying effort for expanding
Interstate 94 from Rogers to St. Cloud was about bipartisan service to
the western end of the district — a rare focus for her since elected.

CPAC speech

Up
until Saturday, there was a growing body of evidence — best symbolized
by her post-election low profile in national media — that Bachmann might
be taking to heart a message district voters delivered Election Day:
Her style isn’t what they want in Washington.

Yes,
the Tea Party champion won a fourth term. But it came by only about
4,200 votes in a long-held GOP district redrawn since 2010 to be even
more conservative. Plus, she needed a record amount of money and
outspent first-time candidate Jim Graves by $9.3 million. Yet she barely
won. . . .

Read the rest at the Times. They're hoping that they'll see more of the bread-and-butter Bachmann, but her behavior in the House suggests that's wishful thinking.

Obamacare “kills.” That’s what Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota
said Thursday on the floor of the House. In a fire-breathing speech, the
tea party favorite and former GOP presidential hopeful urged her fellow
lawmakers to “repeal this failure before it literally kills women,
kills children, kills senior citizens."

. . . Later, she came back on the floor and added that
Medicaid, the big federal/state health entitlement program for
lower-income Americans, is a “ghetto." . . .

. . . Bachmann may be trying to distract the political world from the other
stuff she’s been saying recently. In a speech at the Conservative
Political Action Conference last week, she charged that Mr. Obama has a
“lavish lifestyle” in the White House that includes “five chefs on Air
Force One,” as well as two live-in projectionists for the White House
movie theater and that “we pay someone to walk the president’s dog."

The
chefs and projectionists don’t exist. We wouldn’t rule out staffers
holding Bo’s leash, but there is no pro pet sitter on the White House
payroll. . . .

At
CPAC, Bachmann also said that Alzheimer’s disease could be cured if not
for government regulations, taxes, and lawyers. She added that 70
percent of every food stamp dollar goes to “bureaucrats."

Politifact.com rated
the former claim “pants on fire” false, saying researchers blame the
disease itself and lack of research funding for the fact that no cure
yet exists.